Decacorn foodtech and speedy commerce According to two sources with knowledge of the details who spoke to the media, Swiggy is looking to turn a profit by the second half of this year and is currently terminating 5-6% of its entire workforce.
“Anywhere between 350-400 employees are set to be laid off,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “The staff will be given standard severance packages along with other benefits.”
For the foodtech company based in Bengaluru, this will be the second layoff in the last 12 months and the largest thus far this year. In January 2023, it closed its meat marketplace and laid off a comparable number of employees, citing cost-cutting measures.
According to sources, there is a connection between the layoffs and the company’s possible plans for a public listing, which is anticipated to happen during the next fiscal year (FY25).
In the current fiscal year (FY24), Swiggy experienced top-level departures in addition to layoffs, including Sidharth Satpathy, Dale Vaz, Karthik Gurumurthy, Ashish Lingamneni, Nishad Kenkre, and Anuj Rathi.
Invesco, a Swiggy investor, increased the company’s valuation to $8.3 billion, marking the second increase in fair value in the previous three months. After raising $700 million in January 2022, the Bengaluru-based company reached its peak valuation of $10.7 billion and became a member of the decacorn club.
The wave of layoffs that has swept through growth and late-stage startups has intensified as these businesses prepare for a protracted funding freeze and put profitability ahead of expansion. About twelve companies, including Bolt.Earth, Udaan, ShareChat, Third Wave Coffee, and Simplilearn, have lowered staff in recent months in an effort to cut expenses.
While Walmart-backed Flipkart is reportedly laying off 1,000–1,500 employees, public company Paytm also let go of about 1,000 workers last month. Recently, InMobi and Cult.fit both let go of hundreds of workers.
